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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...dy-claims.htmlBut researchers stressed that having ASD or a head injury alone were not linked to psychopathic tendencies
What is so controversial about it? Every time there is a mass shooting, among the first things I see is people screaming the shooter was autistic.
There is a correlation between autism and mass shootings, and even more so autistic psychopathy (a term originally used by Hans Asperger) and mass shootings, but it's not so simple as that it works in the way that every autistic is a potential ticking bomb. Mass shootings are rarely, if ever, committed on impulse but are planned long in advance. The shooters typically have warning signs and red flags all over them. In some reported cases, they (like Adam Lanza) were already in childhood obsessed with murder.
Autism and School Shootings — Overlap of Autism (Asperger's Syndrome) and General PsychopathyThe vast majority of persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders are highly moral but can show aggression of a non-lethal severity. Nevertheless there are a small number of persons with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome who do show lethal violence. I have described these as Criminal Autistic Psychopathy [11]. The rate of these problems in special hospitals and prisons is almost twice the general population prevalence of Autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Originally, these conditions were called Autistic Psychopathy by Hans Asperger 1938 and 1944. [9] I am suggesting that we bring back the diagnosis of Autistic Psychopathy for those persons with Autism and Asperger's Syndrome who engage in criminal activities with the new diagnosis Criminal Autistic Psychopathy. These persons have the dual features of Autism and Psychopathy. The seriousness of this condition is often missed with the sole diagnosis of Autism or Asperger's Syndrome. There are overlapping features but also differences from General Psychopathy as described in these examples of school killers in the literature.
https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/47518
https://www.theneurotypical.com/auti...shootings.html
Violence is Rare in Autism: When It Does Occur, Is It Sometimes Extreme?
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full...=true&role=tab
Exploring the presence of ASD in the 75 mass shooters identified by Mother Jones revealed evidence of likely ASD in six cases (8%) which is about eight times higher when compared to the prevalence (of under 1%) found in the general population worldwide.
Crucially, the findings of this review are not advancing the notion that individuals with ASD are more likely to be mass shooters or commit serious crime. There may, however, be a small subgroup of individuals with ASD who are more likely to become serious offenders, a claim supported by Fitzgerald (2010). Fitzgerald suggested that Autistic Psychopathy (Hans Asperger's own term for the syndrome that he described in 1944) may underlie the motivation of some serial killers (Fitzgerald, 2010). He posited a new diagnosis “Criminal Autistic Psychopathy,” a subcategory of Asperger's syndrome. This diagnosis would help clearly differentiate this subgroup from the general population of individuals with ASDs, whom are almost certainly less likely to become involved in violent or criminal behaviors. We suggest that appropriate and timely interventions should be developed and implemented specifically tailored for individuals with ASD who may be at increased risk. In order to identify which individuals may be at increased risk research is urgently required to investigate which clusters of risk factors are more predictive of a mass shooting episode. Some researchers suggest that one of the possible warning signs or red flags is an increase in the intensity of preoccupations in an individual with ASD, particularly if those preoccupations have a sinister (disturbing or violent) content. In the case of Adam Lanza, forensic records show that he did develop an increased preoccupation with mass murders which was intense (Solomon, 2014).
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